Doug Warmolts
>>From postmaster at umassd.edu Thu Apr 25 18:45:47 1996
>Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 08:42:16 -0500
>From: Richard Lund <LUND at adlibv.adelphi.edu>
>Subject: APPEAL FOR CONSERVATION HELP
>To: ELASMO-L at umassd.edu
>Cc: egrogan at sjuphil.sju.edu
>Errors-to: elasmo-l-error at umassd.edu
>Warnings-to: elasmo-l-warning at umassd.edu
>Comments: UMass Dartmouth Biology ELASMO group List
>
> While the attached message does not directly concern
>elasmobranchs, the potential loss of the Australian lungfish
>Neoceratodus forsteri is unthinkable. As one of the last three
>surviving lungfish, and arguably the most plesiomorphous of the 3, it
>is our sole remaining contact with the origins of the bony fish, the
>tetrapods, and our own ancestry. Please post this message, spread it
>around, and write, fax or e-mail quickly.
>Thanks for your efforts.
>Dick Lund
>
>------------------- LUNGFISH follows --------------------
>From: a. kemp <A.Kemp at mailbox.uq.oz.au>
>To: ADELPHI3.Darwin(LUND)
>Date: Friday, April 19, 1996 2:21 am
>Subject: conservation
>
> I'm writing because the poor old lungfish needs some
>help.
>
> Conservationists in Queensland are fighting to save one
>of the few remaining unchanged habitats of the Queensland
>lungfish, and we need the help of concerned scientists to get the
>species, and the environment, fully protected. If the
>environment is ruined, the lungfish could become extinct, and
>we'd appreciate it if you could send a note to the address below
>stating why you feel the lungish is important to science.
>The environment of the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus
>forsteri, is under threat. Three major lungfish habitats in
>south east Queensland, in the
>Brisbane, Mary and Burnett Rivers, have already been altered by
>the construction of weirs and dams, and more water impoundments
>are planned in the near future. Fluctuating water levels in
>existing reservoirs damage the spawning sites and juvenile
>habitats by destroying aquatic plants in the shallows where most
>eggs are laid, and this reduces recruitment of young fish to the
>adult population. If the remaining riverine habitats are altered
>in the same way, recruitment could fall to critically low levels.
>In addition, detailed scientific studies on the ecology of
>lungfish in all of its current habitats have not been done, and
>we do not even have an estimate of the size of the present adult
>population.
> Conservation agencies in Queensland are preparing an
>application to have the lungfish listed in Schecule 1 of the
>Endangered Species Protection
>Act, 1993. The lungfish is already protected by Queensland state
>law, and is on the CITES Schedule 2 List of species threatened by
>trade. This is not enough. Current demands by agriculture for
>increasing amounts of water for irrigation could result in
>changes to the few unaltered stretches of the three major rivers
>where lungfish are still found, and the species may not be able
>to spawn successfully in the altered habitats. Despite the fact
>that the needs of agriculture in the coastal regions affected by
>the proposed reservoirs could be met by improved management
>practices, the
>Queensland Government intends to push ahead soon with two large
>new impoundments on the Burnett River, where the lungfish was
>first discovered.
>To date, the efforts of conservationists have not achieved a
>decision to reverse the proposals to build the weirs, despite
>private assurances that they are correct in their assessment of
>risk to lungfish populations, because "a political decision has
>been made".
>Conservation agencies in Queensland are appealing to scientists
>who have an interest in the Australian lungfish to support their
>application for protection of the habitat and the species.
>Please write a short note explaining your perception of the
>importance of N. forsteri for science and send it to -:
>Mrs Pam Soper
> Wide Bay Conservation Council
> 29 Watson's Road
> Kelly's Creek
> Bargara
> Queensland 4670
> Australia
> who is co-ordinating the application. Her FAX number is
>(international code) 61 71 591919.
> If it is more convenient, send your comments on e-mail
>to me
>(a.kemp at mailbox.uq.oz.au) and I will pass the messages on to the
>Wide Bay
>Conservation Council.
> Please find the time to send a short comment. Thank
>you, on behalf of the lungfish, for your assistance.
>
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